Think textiles!

Maximise your grade by thinking about textiles in your everyday life. What places of interest can you visit? Keep a sketchbook of your ideas. Have a go at a project in your own time. Do reading & research in areas that interest you.

How to Revise

What is revision?

The dictionary definition of the word ‘revise’ is ‘to look at again, reconsider, examine’. This means that when you revise you are going over old information to help it stick in your mind. The word ‘revise’ also means to ‘change something’. Often when we revise for an exam an effective strategy is to change what we originally learnt into a different format as this helps us see it in a different way which makes it stick in our minds.

Is revision important?

As much as we might not want them to be, revision and exams are a fact of life! For most of us to do do well at an exam we need to do revision. And the truth is that whilst some people may think they can do well at exams without revision, the reality is, they are likely to do even better with a bit of revision under their belt.

What is the best type of revision?

There is no right way to revise. This is different for everyone and it is important to find the revision style that suits you and the subject you are revising for.

Revision isn’t just about sitting for hours on end reading books and doing exam questions. Good revision helps you both remember the information as well as enabling you to use what you have learnt in different situations. You should therefore use different revision methods at different times, both to keep it interesting for you, but also to help you get used to seeing and using information in different formats.

Ideas on how you might revise

Summarise your notes into diagrams, mind maps, and tables

Write cue cards summarising keywords and knowledge

Put sticky notes or cue cards in key places around your home

Create a revision sketchbook with lots of drawings & samples to help you with the design part of the exam. Click here to find out more about a revision sketchbook.

Make revision keyrings

Make revision bunting and hang it around your room

Create revision snowflakes

Set up Pinterest boards linked to your areas of revision. Take a look at these Pinterest boards on a variety of textiles related areas to get you started.

Send texts to your friends asking questions or telling them about keywords and phrases

Record information and play it back in different situations

Take products apart and think about a focus on the exam paper

Revise with a friend or group of friends

Use social media to set up revision groups

Give questions to friends and family and ask them to test you

Analyse existing products using a focus from the exam paper

Write songs, poems & raps to help you remember key information

Use pneumonic and word games to help create memory prompts

Drip Feed Learning

Good revision isn’t about cramming as much information into our heads at the last minute. The best revision enables us to become so familiar with something that it feels natural and easy to think about it. That means when we are asked a question we are so familiar with the topic that the answer is easy.

To become familiar with something you need to revisit it a lot. Think of this as ‘drip feed learning’ where you are learning all the time without even being aware of it.

In textiles this is really easy to do as textiles products are constantly all around us all the time. You can therefore revise simply by looking around you and thinking about the textiles products you see.

As well as getting used to seeing what is around you, you need to ask yourself questions about what you see. What is it? Who is it for? What is it made of? How is it made? How would you change it?

By doing this you will start to become very familiar with textiles. You will be applying your knowledge as well as flagging up bits you aren’t sure of.

5 Minute Revision

Revision doesn't have to take hours and feel boring. Do just 5 minutes textiles revision a day and it will be over quickly and painlessly. The key is to start much earlier but do a tiny bit each day. This way it doesn’t feel like revision and over time you immerse yourself in textiles, all of which helps you remember it more. This is all part of the drip feed learning strategy.

#ThinkDo Activities

#ThinkDo’ activities are posted throughout the year and are ‘5 minute revision’ activities that encourage you to ’think’ and ‘do’.